katapi logo - katapi - New Study Bible ... by URL bible references - | DB1 | New Jerusalem Bible

Job 1:1-42:17

JOB. Satan tests JOB. (Jb.1.1-12)

11 There was once a man in the land of Uz called Job: a sound and honest man who feared God and shunned evil. 2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3 And he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she-donkeys, and many servants besides. This man was the most prosperous of all the Sons of the East. 4 It was the custom of his sons to hold banquets in one another's houses in turn, and to invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 Once each series of banquets was over, Job would send for them to come and be purified, and at dawn on the following day he would make a burnt offering for each of them. 'Perhaps', Job would say, 'my sons have sinned and in their heart blasphemed.' So that was what Job used to do each time. 6 One day when the sons of God came to attend on Yahweh, among them came Satan. 7 So Yahweh said to Satan, 'Where have you been?' 'Prowling about on earth,' he answered, 'roaming around there.' 8 So Yahweh asked him, 'Did you pay any attention to my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth: a sound and honest man who fears God and shuns evil.' 9 'Yes,' Satan said, 'but Job is not God-fearing for nothing, is he? 10 Have you not put a wall round him and his house and all his domain? You have blessed all he undertakes, and his flocks throng the countryside. 11 But stretch out your hand and lay a finger on his possessions: then, I warrant you, he will curse you to your face.' 12 'Very well,' Yahweh said to Satan, 'all he has is in your power. But keep your hands off his person.' So Satan left the presence of Yahweh.

Job's children & wealth are destroyed. (Jb.1.13-22)

13 On the day when Job's sons and daughters were eating and drinking in their eldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job. 'Your oxen', he said, 'were at the plough, with the donkeys grazing at their side, 15 when the Sabaeans swept down on them and carried them off, and put the servants to the sword: I alone have escaped to tell you.' 16 He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. 'The fire of God', he said, 'has fallen from heaven and burnt the sheep and shepherds to ashes: I alone have escaped to tell you.' 17 He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. 'The Chaldaeans,' he said, 'three bands of them, have raided the camels and made off with them, and put the servants to the sword: I alone have escaped to tell you.' 18 He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. 'Your sons and daughters', he said, 'were eating and drinking at their eldest brother's house, 19 when suddenly from the desert a gale sprang up, and it battered all four corners of the house which fell in on the young people. They are dead: I alone have escaped to tell you.' 20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe and shaved his head. Then, falling to the ground, he prostrated himself 21 and said:

Naked I came from my mother's womb,
naked I shall return again.
Yahweh gave, Yahweh has taken back.
Blessed be the name of Yahweh!

22 In all this misfortune Job committed no sin, and he did not reproach God.

Satan tests Job again. (Jb.2.1-10)

21 Another day, the sons of God came to attend on Yahweh and Satan came with them too. 2 So Yahweh said to Satan, 'Where have you been?' 'Prowling about on earth,' he answered, 'roaming around there.' 3 So Yahweh asked him, 'Did you pay any attention to my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth: a sound and honest man who fears God and shuns evil. He persists in his integrity still; you achieved nothing by provoking me to ruin him.' 4 'Skin after skin!' Satan replied. 'Someone will give away all he has to save his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and lay a finger on his bone and flesh; I warrant you, he will curse you to your face.' 6 'Very well,' Yahweh said to Satan, 'he is in your power. But spare his life.' 7 So Satan left the presence of Yahweh.

He struck Job down with malignant ulcers from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. 8 Job took a piece of pot to scrape himself, and went and sat among the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, 'Why persist in this integrity of yours? Curse God and die.' 10 'That is how a fool of a woman talks,' Job replied. 'If we take happiness from God's hand, must we not take sorrow too?' And in all this misfortune Job uttered no sinful word.

Job's friends come. (Jb.2.12-13)

11 The news of all the disasters that had fallen on Job came to the ears of three of his friends. Each of them set out from home—Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shuah and Zophar of Naamath—and by common consent they decided to go and offer him sympathy and consolation. 12 Looking at him from a distance, they could not recognise him; they wept aloud and tore their robes and threw dust over their heads. 13 They sat there on the ground beside him for seven days and seven nights. To Job they spoke never a word, for they saw how much he was suffering.

Job's complaint to the LORD. (Jb.3.1-26)

31 In the end it was Job who broke the silence and cursed the day of his birth. 2 This is what he said:
3 Perish the day on which I was born and the night that told of a boy conceived.
4 May that day be darkness, may God on high have no thought for it, may no light shine on it.
5 May murk and shadow dark as death claim it for their own, clouds hang over it, eclipse swoop down on it.
6 See! Let obscurity seize on it, from the days of the year let it be excluded, into the reckoning of the months not find its way.
7 And may that night be sterile, devoid of any cries of joy!
8 Let it be cursed by those who curse certain days and are ready to rouse Leviathan.
9 Dark be the stars of its morning, let it wait in vain for light and never see the opening eyes of dawn.
10 Since it would not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide sorrow from my eyes. 11 Why was I not still-born, or why did I not perish as I left the womb?
12 Why were there knees to receive me, breasts for me to suck?
13 Now I should be lying in peace, wrapped in a restful slumber,
14 with the kings and high viziers of earth who have built their dwellings in desolate places,
15 or with princes who have quantities of gold and silver cramming their tombs;
16 or, put away like an abortive child, I should not have existed, like little ones that never see the light.
17 Down there, the wicked bustle no more, there the weary rest.
18 Prisoners, all left in peace, hear no more the shouts of the oppressor.
19 High and low are there together, and the slave is free of his master.
20 Why give light to a man of grief? Why give life to those bitter of heart,
21 who long for a death that never comes, and hunt for it more than for buried treasure?
22 They would be glad to see the grave-mound and shout with joy if they reached the tomb.
23 Why give light to one who does not see his way, whom God shuts in all alone? 24 My only food is sighs, and my groans pour out like water.
25 Whatever I fear comes true, whatever I dread befalls me.
26 For me, there is no calm, no peace; my torments banish rest.

THE FIRST DIALOGUE. Jb.4.1-14.22. Eliphaz. (Jb.4.1-5.27)

41 Eliphaz of Teman spoke next. He said:
2 If we say something to you, will you bear with us? Who in any case could refrain from speaking now?
3 You have schooled many others, giving strength to feeble hands;
4 your words supported any who wavered and strengthened every failing knee.
5 And now your turn has come, and you lose patience, at the first touch on yourself you are overwhelmed!
6 Does not your piety give you confidence, and your integrity of life give you hope?
7 Can you recall anyone guiltless that perished? Where then have the honest been wiped out?
8 I speak from experience: those who plough iniquity and sow disaster, reap just that.
9 Under the breath of God, they perish: a blast of his anger, and they are destroyed;
10 the lion's roars, his savage growls, like the fangs of a lion cub, are broken off.
11 The lion dies for lack of prey and the lioness's whelps are dispersed.
12 I have received a secret revelation, a whisper has come to my ears;
13 by night when dreams confuse the mind and slumber lies heavy on everyone,
14 a shiver of horror ran through me and filled all my bones with fright.
15 A breath slid over my face, the hairs of my body bristled.
16 Someone stood there—I did not know his face, but the form stayed there before my eyes. Silence—then I heard a voice,
17 'Can a mortal seem upright to God, would anybody seem pure in the presence of his Maker?
18 God cannot rely even on his own servants, even with his angels he finds fault.
19 What then of those who live in houses of clay, who are founded on dust?
20 They are crushed as easily as a moth, between morning and evening they are ground to powder.
They vanish for ever, with no one to bring them back.
21 Their tent-peg is snatched from them, and they die devoid of wisdom.'
51 Make your appeal then. Will you find an answer? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 Resentment kills the senseless, and anger brings death to the fool.
3 I have seen the senseless taking root, when a curse fell suddenly on his house.
4 His children are deprived of prop and stay, ruined at the gate, and no one to defend them;
5 their harvest goes to feed the hungry, God snatches it from their mouths, and covetous people thirst for their possessions.
6 No, misery does not grow out of the soil, nor sorrow spring from the ground.
7 It is people who breed trouble for themselves as surely as eagles fly to the height.
8 If I were you, I should appeal to God and lay my case before him.
9 His works are great, past all reckoning, marvels beyond all counting.
10 He sends down rain to the earth, pours down water on the fields.
11 If his will is to raise up the downcast, or exalt the afflicted to the heights of prosperity,
12 he frustrates the plans of the artful so that they cannot succeed in their intrigues.
13 He traps the crafty in the snare of their own trickery, throws the plans of the cunning into disarray.
14 In daylight they come up against darkness, and grope their way as if noon were night.
15 He rescues the bankrupt from their jaws, and the needy from the grasp of the mighty.
16 Hope springs afresh for the weak, and wickedness must shut its mouth. 17 Blessed are those whom God corrects! Do not then scorn the lesson of Shaddai!
18 For he who wounds is he who soothes the sore, and the hand that hurts is the hand that heals.
19 Six times he will deliver you from sorrow, and the seventh time, evil will not touch you.
20 In time of famine, he will save you from death, and in wartime from the stroke of the sword.
21 You will be safe from the lash of the tongue, unafraid at the approach of the despoiler.
22 You will laugh at drought and frost, and have no fear of the beasts of the earth.
23 You will have a pact with the stones of the field, and live in amity with wild beasts.
24 You will know that your tent is secure, and your sheepfold unharmed when you inspect it.
25 You will see your descendants multiply, your offspring grow like the grass in the fields.
26 At a ripe age you will go to the grave, like a wheatsheaf stacked in due season.
27 All this we have observed and it is so! Heed it, you will be the wiser for it!

Job. (Jb.6.1-7.21)

61 Job spoke next. He said:
2 If only my misery could be weighed, and all my ills be put together on the scales!
3 But they outweigh the sands of the seas: what wonder then if my words are wild?
4 The arrows of Shaddai stick fast in me, my spirit absorbs their poison, God's terrors stand paraded against me.
5 Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox low when its fodder is within reach?
6 Is not food insipid, eaten without salt, is there any taste in egg-white?
7 But the very things my appetite revolts at are now my diet in sickness.
8 Will no one hear my prayer, will not God himself grant my hope?
9 May it please God to crush me, to give his hand free play and do away with me!
10 This thought, at least, would give me comfort (a thrill of joy in unrelenting pain), that I never rebelled against the Holy One's decrees.
11 But have I the strength to go on waiting? And why be patient, when doomed to such an end?
12 Is mine the strength of stone, is my flesh made of bronze?
13 Can I support myself on nothing? Has not all help deserted me?
14 Refuse faithful love to your neighbour and you forsake the fear of Shaddai. 15 Like the torrent, my brothers have proved deceptive, as fleeting torrents they flow:
16 the ice makes their waters turgid when, above them, the snow melts,
17 but, come the burning summer, they run dry, they vanish in the heat of the sun.
18 Caravans leave the trail to find them, go deep into wastelands, and are lost.
19 The caravans of Tema look to them, and on them Sheba's convoys build their hopes.
20 Their trust brings only embarrassment, they reach them only to be thwarted.
21 And this is how you now treat me, terrified at the sight of me, you take fright.
22 Have I said to you, 'Give me something, make some present for me at your own cost,
23 snatch me from the grasp of an oppressor, ransom me from the grip of a violent man'?
24 Put me right, and I shall say no more; show me where I have been at fault.
25 Fair comment can be borne without resentment, but what are your strictures aimed at?
26 Do you think mere words deserve censure, desperate speech that the wind blows away?
27 Soon you will be haggling over the price of an orphan, and selling your friend at bargain price!
28 Come, I beg you, look at me: man to man, I shall not lie.
29 Relent then, no harm is done; relent then, since I am upright.
30 Is evil to be found on my lips? Can I not recognise misfortune when I taste it?
71 Is not human life on earth just conscript service? Do we not live a hireling's life?
2 Like a slave, sighing for the shade, or a hireling with no thought but for his wages,
3 I have months of futility assigned to me, nights of suffering to be my lot.
4 Lying in bed I wonder, 'When will it be day?' No sooner up than, 'When will evening come?' And crazy thoughts obsess me till twilight falls.
5 Vermin and loathsome scabs cover my body; my skin is cracked and oozes pus.
6 Swifter than a weaver's shuttle my days have passed, and vanished, leaving no hope behind.
7 Remember that my life is but a breath, and that my eyes will never again see joy.
8 The eye that once saw me will look on me no more, your eyes will turn my way, and I shall not be there.
9 A cloud dissolves and is gone, so no one who goes down to Sheol ever comes up again,
10 ever comes home again, and his house knows that person no more.
11 That is why I cannot keep quiet: in my anguish of spirit I shall speak, in my bitterness of soul I shall complain.
12 Am I the Sea, or some sea monster, that you should keep me under guard?
13 If I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will lighten my complaints,'
14 you then frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15 so that strangling would seem welcome in comparison, yes, death preferable to what I suffer.
16 I am wasting away, my life is not unending; leave me then, for my days are but a breath.
17 What are human beings that you should take them so seriously, subjecting them to your scrutiny,
18 that morning after morning you should examine them and at every instant test them?
19 Will you never take your eyes off me long enough for me to swallow my spittle?
20 Suppose I have sinned, what have I done to you, you tireless watcher of humanity?
Why do you choose me as your target? Why should I be a burden to you?
21 Can you not tolerate my sin, not overlook my fault?
For soon I shall be lying in the dust, you will look for me and I shall be no more.

Bildad. (Jb.8.1-22)

81 Bildad of Shuah spoke next. He said:
2 How much longer are you going to talk like this and go blustering on in this way?
3 Can God deflect the course of right or Shaddai falsify justice?
4 If your sons sinned against him, he has punished them for their wrong-doing.
5 You for your part, if you are pure and honest, must now seek God, plead with Shaddai.
6 Forthwith his light will shine on you and he will restore an upright man's house to prosperity.
7 Your former state will seem as nothing to you, so great will your future be. 8 Question the generation that has passed, meditate on the experience of its ancestors—
9 for we children of yesterday, we know nothing, our life on earth passes like a shadow-
10 but they will teach you, they will tell you, and their thought is expressed in these sayings,
11 'Can papyrus flourish except in marshes? Without water can the rushes grow?
12 Even when green and before being cut, fastest of all plants they wither.
13 Such is the fate of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.
14 His hope is nothing but gossamer, his confidence a spider's web.
15 Let him lean on his house, it will not stand firm; cling to it, it will not hold.
16 Like some lush plant in the sunlight, he sent his young shoots sprouting over the garden;
17 but his roots were twined in a heap of stones, he drew his life among the rocks.
18 Snatch him from his bed, and it denies it ever saw him.
19 Now he rots on the roadside, and others are springing up in the soil.
20 Believe me, God neither spurns anyone of integrity, nor lends his aid to the evil.
21 Once again laughter may fill your mouth and cries of joy break from your lips.
22 Your enemies will be covered with shame and the tent of the wicked will vanish!'

Job. (Jb.9.1-10.22)

91 Job spoke next. He said:
2 Indeed, I know it is as you say: how could anyone claim to be upright before God?
3 Anyone trying to argue matters with him, could not give him one answer in a thousand.
4 Among the wisest and the hardiest, who then can successfully defy him?
5 He moves the mountains, though they do not know it; he throws them down when he is angry.
6 He shakes the earth, and moves it from its place, making all its pillars tremble.
7 The sun, at his command, forbears to rise, and on the stars he sets a seal.
8 He and no other has stretched out the heavens and trampled on the back of the Sea.
9 He has made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the Mansions of the South.
10 The works he does are great and unfathomable, and his marvels cannot be counted.
11 If he passes me, I do not see him; he slips by, imperceptible to me.
12 If he snatches his prey, who is going to stop him or dare to ask, 'What are you doing?'
13 God does not renounce his anger: beneath him, Rahab's minions still lie prostrate. 14 And here am I, proposing to defend myself and select my arguments against him!
15 Even if I am upright, what point is there in answering him? I can only plead for mercy with my judge!
16 And if he deigned to answer my citation, I cannot believe he would listen to what I said,
17 he who crushes me for one hair, who, for no reason, wounds and wounds again,
18 not even letting me regain my breath, with so much bitterness he fills me!
19 Shall I try force? Look how strong he is! Or go to court? But who will summon him?
20 If I prove myself upright, his mouth may condemn me, even if I am innocent, he may pronounce me perverse.
21 But am I innocent? I am no longer sure, and life itself I despise!
22 It is all one, and hence I boldly say: he destroys innocent and guilty alike.
23 When a sudden deadly scourge descends, he laughs at the plight of the innocent.
24 When a country falls into the power of the wicked, he veils the faces of its judges. Or if not he, who else? 25 My days pass: more swiftly than a runner they flee away with never a glimpse of happiness,
26 they skim past like a reed canoe, like an eagle swooping on its prey.
27 If I decide to stifle my complaining, change countenance, and wear a smiling face,
28 fear seizes me at the thought of all my woes, for I know you do not regard me as innocent.
29 And if I have done wrong, why should I put myself to useless trouble?
30 If I wash myself in melted snow, clean my hands with soda,
31 you will only plunge me into the dung, till my clothes themselves recoil from me!
32 For he is not human like me: impossible for me to answer him or appear alongside him in court.
33 There is no arbiter between us, to lay his hand on both,
34 to stay his rod from me, or keep away his daunting terrors.
35 Nonetheless, unafraid of him, I shall speak: since I do not see myself like that at all!
101 Since I have lost all taste for life, I shall give free rein to my complaining; I shall let my embittered soul speak out.
2 I shall say to God, 'Do not condemn me, tell me what your case is against me.
3 Is it right for you to attack me, in contempt for what you yourself have made, thus abetting the schemes of the wicked?
4 Are your eyes mere human eyes, do you see as human beings see?
5 Are you mortal like human beings? do your years pass as human days pass?
6 You, who enquire into my faults and investigate my sins,
7 you know very well that I am innocent, and that no one can rescue me from your grasp.
8 Your hands having shaped and created me, now you change your mind and mean to destroy me!
9 Having made me, remember, as though of clay, now you mean to turn me back into dust!
10 Did you not pour me out like milk, and then let me thicken like curds,
11 clothe me with skin and flesh, and weave me of bone and sinew?
12 In your love you gave me life, and in your care watched over my every breath.
13 Yet, all the while, you had a secret plan: I know that you were biding your time
14 to see if I should sin and then not acquit me of my faults.
15 Woe to me, if I am guilty; even if I am upright, I dare not lift my head, so overwhelmed with shame and drunk with pain am I!
16 Proud as a lion, you hunt me down, multiplying your exploits at my expense,
17 attacking me again and again, your fury against me ever increasing, your troops assailing me, wave after wave. 18 Why did you bring me out of the womb? I should have perished then, unseen by any eye,
19 a being that had never been, to be carried from womb to grave.
20 The days of my life are few enough: turn your eyes away, leave me a little joy,
21 before I go to the place of no return, to the land of darkness and shadow dark as death,
22 where dimness and disorder hold sway, and light itself is like dead of night.

Zophar. (Jb.11.1-20)

111 Zophar of Naamath spoke next. He said:
2 Is babbling to go without an answer? Is wordiness a proof of uprightness?
3 Do you think your talking strikes people dumb, will you jeer with no one to refute you?
4 These were your words, 'My conduct is pure, in your eyes I am free of blame!'
5 Will no one let God speak, open his lips and give you answer,
6 show you the secrets of wisdom which put all cleverness to shame? Then you would realise that God is calling you to account for your sin.
7 Can you claim to fathom the depth of God, can you reach the limit of Shaddai?
8 It is higher than the heavens: what can you do? It is deeper than Sheol: what can you know?
9 It would be longer to measure than the earth and broader than the sea.
10 If he intervenes to close or convoke the assembly, who is to prevent him?
11 He knows how deceptive human beings are, and he sees their misdeeds too, and marks them well.
12 Hence empty-headed people would do well to study sense and people who behave like wild donkeys to let themselves be tamed. 13 Come, reconsider your attitude, stretch out your hands towards him!
14 If you repudiate the sin which you have doubtless committed and do not allow wickedness to live on in your tents,
15 you will be able to raise an unsullied face, unwavering and free from fear,
16 for you will forget about your misery, thinking of it only as a flood that passed long ago.
17 Then begins an existence more radiant than noon, and the very darkness will be bright as morning.
18 Confident because there is hope; after your troubles, you will sleep secure.
19 When you lie down to rest, no one will trouble you, and many will seek your favour.
20 But as for the wicked, their eyes are weary, there is no refuge for them; their only hope is to breathe their last.

Job. (Jb.12.1-14.22)

121 Job spoke next. He said:
2 Doubtless, you are the voice of the people, and when you die, wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have a brain, as well as you, I am in no way inferior to you, and who, in any case, does not know all that?
4 Anyone becomes a laughing-stock to his friends if he cries to God and expects an answer. People laugh at anyone who has integrity and is upright.
5 'Add insult to injury,' think the prosperous, 'strike the fellow now that he is staggering!'
6 And yet the tents of brigands are left in peace: those who provoke God dwell secure and so does anyone who makes a god of his fist!
7 You have only to ask the cattle, for them to instruct you, and the birds of the sky, for them to inform you.
8 The creeping things of earth will give you lessons, and the fish of the sea provide you an explanation:
9 there is not one such creature but will know that the hand of God has arranged things like this!
10 In his hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of every human being!
11 Can the ear not distinguish the value of what is said, just as the palate can tell one food from another?
12 Wisdom is found in the old, and discretion comes with great age.
13 But in him there is wisdom, and power too, and good counsel no less than discretion.
14 What he destroys, no one can rebuild; whom he imprisons, no one can release.
15 Is there a drought? He has withheld the waters. Do they play havoc on earth? He has let them loose.
16 In him is strength, in him resourcefulness, beguiler and beguiled alike are his.
17 He robs a country's counsellors of their wits, turns judges into fools.
18 He undoes the belts of kings and knots a rope round their waists.
19 He makes priests walk barefoot, and overthrows the powers that are established.
20 He strikes the most assured of speakers dumb and robs old people of their discretion.
21 He pours contempt on the nobly born, and unbuckles the belt of the strong.
22 He unveils the depths of darkness, brings shadow dark as death to the light.
23 He builds nations up, then ruins them, he makes peoples expand, then suppresses them.
24 He strips a country's leaders of their judgement, and leaves them to wander in a trackless waste,
25 to grope about in unlit darkness, lurching to and fro as though drunk.
131 I have seen all this with my own eyes, heard with my own ears and understood.
2 Whatever you know, I know too; I am in no way inferior to you.
3 But my words are intended for Shaddai; I mean to remonstrate with God.
4 As for you, you are only charlatans, all worthless as doctors!
5 Will no one teach you to be quiet—the only wisdom that becomes you!
6 Kindly listen to my accusation and give your attention to the way I shall plead.
7 Do you mean to defend God by prevarication and by dishonest argument,
8 and, taking his side like this, appoint yourselves as his advocates?
9 How would you fare, if he were to scrutinise you? Can he be duped as mortals are duped?
10 He would inflict a harsh rebuke on you for your covert partiality.
11 Does his majesty not affright you? Does his terror not overcome you?
12 Your received ideas are maxims of ash, your retorts, retorts of clay.
13 Be quiet! Kindly let me do the talking, happen to me what may.
14 I am putting my flesh between my teeth, I am taking my life in my hands;
15 let him kill me if he will; I have no other hope than to justify my conduct in his eyes.
16 And this is what will save me, for the wicked would not dare to appear before him.
17 Listen carefully to my words, and pay attention to what I am going to say.
18 You see, I shall proceed by form of law, knowing that I am upright.
19 Who wants to contest my case? In advance, I agree to be silenced and to die!
20 Only grant me two concessions, and then I shall not hide away from your face:
21 remove your hand, which lies so heavy on me, no longer make me cower from your terror.
22 Then call me forward and I shall answer, or rather, I shall speak and you will answer.
23 How many faults and crimes have I committed? Tell me what my misdeed has been, what my sin?
24 Why do you hide your face and look on me as your enemy?
25 Do you want to intimidate a wind-blown leaf, do you want to pursue a dry straw?
26 You who lay bitter allegations against me and tax me with the faults of my youth
27 and have put my feet in the stocks; you examine my every step and measure my footprints one by one!
28 For his part, he crumbles away like rotten wood, or like a moth-eaten garment,
141 a human being, born of woman, whose life is short but full of trouble.
2 Like a flower, such a one blossoms and withers, fleeting as a shadow, transient.
3 And this is the creature on whom you fix your gaze, and bring to judgement before you!
4 But will anyone produce the pure from what is impure? No one can!
5 Since his days are measured out, since his tale of months depends on you, since you assign him bounds he cannot pass,
6 turn your eyes from him, leave him alone, like a hired labourer, to finish his day in peace.
7 There is always hope for a tree: when felled, it can start its life again; its shoots continue to sprout.
8 Its roots may have grown old in the earth, its stump rotting in the ground,
9 but let it scent the water, and it buds, and puts out branches like a plant newly set.
10 But a human being? He dies, and dead he remains, breathes his last, and then where is he?
11 The waters of the sea will vanish, the rivers stop flowing and run dry:
12 a human being, once laid to rest, will never rise again, the heavens will wear out before he wakes up, or before he is roused from his sleep. 13 Will no one hide me in Sheol, and shelter me there till your anger is past,
fixing a certain day for calling me to mind— 14 can the dead come back to life?—day after day of my service, I should be waiting for my relief to come.
15 Then you would call, and I should answer, you would want to see once more what you have made.
16 Whereas now you count every step I take, you would then stop spying on my sin;
17 you would seal up my crime in a bag, and put a cover over my fault. 18 Alas! Just as, eventually, the mountain falls down, the rock moves from its place,
19 water wears away the stones, the cloudburst erodes the soil; so you destroy whatever hope a person has.
20 You crush him once for all, and he is gone; first you disfigure him, then you dismiss him.
21 His children may rise to honours—he does not know it; they may come down in the world—he does not care.
22 He feels no pangs, except for his own body, makes no lament, except for his own self.

THE SECOND DIALOGUE. Jb.15.1-21.34. Eliphaz. (Jb.15.1-35)

151 Eliphaz of Teman spoke next. He said:
2 Does anyone wise respond with windy arguments, or feed on an east wind?
3 Or make a defence with ineffectual words and speeches good for nothing?
4 You do worse: you suppress reverence, you discredit discussion before God.
5 Your very fault incites you to speak like this, hence you adopt this language of cunning.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips bear witness against you. 7 Are you the first-born of the human race, brought into the world before the hills?
8 Have you been a listener at God's council, or established a monopoly of wisdom?
9 What knowledge do you have that we have not, what understanding that is not ours too?
10 One of us is an old, grey-headed man loaded with more years than your father!
11 Can you ignore these divine consolations and the moderate tone of our words?
12 How passion carries you away! And how you roll your eyes,
13 when you vent your anger on God and speeches come tripping off your tongue!
14 How can anyone be pure, anyone born of woman be upright?
15 God cannot rely even on his holy ones, to him, even the heavens seem impure.
16 How much more, this hateful, corrupt thing, humanity, which soaks up wickedness like water!
17 Listen to me, I have a lesson for you: I am going to impart my own experience
18 and the tradition of the sages who have remained faithful to their ancestors,
19 to whom alone the land was given—no foreigner included among them.
20 The life of the wicked is unceasing torment, the years allotted to the tyrant are numbered.
21 A cry of panic echoes in his ear; when all is peace, his destroyer swoops down on him.
22 No more can he count on escaping from the dark, but knows that he is destined for the sword,
23 marked down as meat for the vulture. He knows that his ruin is at hand.
24 The hour of darkness terrifies him, distress and anguish assail him as when a king is poised for the assault.
25 He raised his hand against God, boldly he defied Shaddai!
26 Head lowered, he charged him, with his massively bossed shield.
27 His face had grown full and fat, and his thighs too heavy with flesh.
28 He had occupied the towns he had destroyed, with their uninhabited houses about to fall into ruins;
29 but no great profit to him, his luck will not hold, he will cast his shadow over the country no longer, 30 (he will not escape the dark).
A flame will scorch his young shoots, the wind will carry off his blossom.
31 Let him not trust in his great height or delusion will be his.
32 His palm trees will wither before their time and his branches never again be green.
33 Like the vine, he will shake off his unripe fruit, like the olive tree, shed his blossom.
34 Yes, sterile is the spawn of the sinner, and fire consumes the tents of the venal.
35 Whoever conceives malice, breeds disaster, bears as offspring only a false hope.

Job. (Jb.16.1-17.16)

161 Job spoke next. He said:
2 How often have I heard all this before! What sorry comforters you are!
3 'When will these windy arguments be over?' or again, 'What sickness drives you to defend yourself?'
4 Oh yes! I too could talk as you do, if you were in my place; I could overwhelm you with speeches, shaking my head over you,
5 and speak words of encouragement, and then have no more to say.
6 When I speak, my suffering does not stop; if I say nothing, is it in any way reduced?
7 And now it is driving me to distraction; you have struck my whole acquaintanceship with horror,
8 now it rounds on me, my slanderer has now turned witness, he appears against me, accusing me face to face;
9 his anger tears and hounds me with gnashing teeth.
My enemies look daggers at me, 10 and open gaping jaws.
Their sneers strike like slaps in the face; and they all set on me at once.
11 Yes, God has handed me over to the godless, and cast me into the hands of the wicked. 12 I was living at peace, until he made me totter, taking me by the neck to shatter me. He has set me up as his target:
13 he shoots his arrows at me from all sides,
pitilessly pierces my loins, and pours my gall out on the ground.
14 Breach after breach he drives through me, charging on me like a warrior.
15 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, thrown my forehead in the dust.
16 My face is red with tears, and shadow dark as death covers my eyelids.
17 Nonetheless, my hands are free of violence, and my prayer is pure.
18 Cover not my blood, O earth, and let my cry mount without cease!
19 Henceforth I have a witness in heaven, my defender is there on high.
20 Interpreter of my thoughts there with God, before whom flow my tears,
21 let my anguish plead the cause of a man at grips with God, just as a man might defend his fellow.
22 For the years of my life are numbered, and I am leaving by the road of no return.
171 My breathing is growing weaker and the gravediggers are gathering for me.
2 Scoffers are my only companions, their harshness haunts my nights.
3 So you must go bail for me to yourself, for which of them cares to clap his hand on mine?
4 For you have shut their hearts to reason, hence not a hand is lifted.
5 Just so is a man who invites his friends to share his property while the eyes of his own children languish. 6 I have become a byword among foreigners, and a creature on whose face to spit,
7 since I am nearly blind with grief and my limbs are reduced to a shadow.
8 Any honest person is appalled at the sight, the innocent is indignant at the sinner.
9 Anyone upright grows stronger step by step: and anyone whose hands are clean grows ever in vigour! 10 Come on then, all of you, back to the attack! I shall not find one wise man among you! 11 My days are over, so are my plans, my heart-strings are broken;
12 yet they would have me believe that night is day, that light to dispel the darkness is at hand,
13 when all I want, in fact, is to dwell in Sheol and in that darkness there to make my bed!
14 To the tomb, I cry, 'You are my father!'—to the worm, 'You are my mother-you, my sister!'
15 Where then is my hope? Who can see any happiness for me?
16 unless they come down to Sheol with me, all of us sinking into the dust together?

Bildad. (Jb.18.1-21)

181 Bildad of Shuah spoke next. He said:
2 What prevents you others from saying something? Think—for it is our turn to speak!
3 Why do you regard us as animals, considering us no more than brutes?
4 Tear yourself to pieces if you will, but the world, for all your rage, will not turn to desert, the rocks will not shift from their places.
5 The light of the wicked must certainly be put out, the lamp that gives him light cease to shine.
6 In his tent the light is dimmed, the lamp that shone on him is snuffed.
7 His vigorous stride loses its power, his own designs falter.
8 For into the net his own feet carry him, he walks into the snares.
9 A spring grips him by the heel, a trap snaps shut, and he is caught.
10 Hidden in the ground is a snare to catch him, pitfalls lie across his path.
11 Terrors threaten him from all sides following him step by step.
12 Hunger becomes his companion, by his side Disaster stands.
13 Disease devours his skin, Death's First-Born gnaws his limbs.
14 He will be torn from the shelter of his tent, and you will drag him to the King of Terrors.
15 You can live in the tent, since it is no longer his, and brimstone will be scattered on his sheepfold.
16 Below, his roots dry out and his branches are blasted above.
17 His memory fades from the land, his name is forgotten in the countryside.
18 Driven from the light into the darkness, he is banished from the world,
19 without issue or posterity among his own people or a single survivor where he used to live.
20 His end appals the west and fills the east with terror.
21 Such indeed is the fate of the places where wickedness dwells—the home of everyone who knows not God.

Job. (Jb.19.1-29)

191 Job spoke next. He said:
2 How much longer are you going to torment me and crush me by your speeches?
3 You have insulted me ten times already: have you no shame at maltreating me?
4 Even if I had gone astray, my error would still be my own affair.
5 But, whereas you take this superior attitude and claim that my disgrace is my own fault,
6 I tell you that God has wronged me and enveloped me in his net.
7 If I protest against such violence, I am not heard, if I appeal against it, judgement is never given.
8 He has built an impassable wall across my path and covered my way with darkness.
9 He has deprived me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.
10 He assails me from all directions to make me vanish; he uproots my hope as he might a tree.
11 Inflamed with anger against me, he regards me as his foe.
12 His troops have come in force, directing their line of advance towards me, they are now encamped round my tent. 13 He has alienated my brothers from me, my relatives take care to avoid me,
14 my intimate friends have gone away and the guests in my house have forgotten me.
15 My slave-girls regard me as an intruder, a stranger as far as they are concerned.
16 My servant does not answer when I call him, I am obliged to beg favours from him!
17 My breath is unbearable to my wife, my stench to my own brothers.
18 Even the children look down on me, whenever I stand up, they start jeering at me.
19 All my dearest friends recoil from me in horror: those I loved best have turned against me.
20 My flesh is rotting under my skin, my bones are sticking out like teeth.
21 Pity me, pity me, my friends, since I have been struck by the hand of God.
22 Must you persecute me just as God does, and give my body no peace? 23 Will no one let my words be recorded, inscribed on some monument
24 with iron chisel and engraving tool, cut into the rock for ever?
25 I know that I have a living Defender and that he will rise up last, on the dust of the earth.
26 After my awakening, he will set me close to him, and from my flesh I shall look on God.
27 He whom I shall see will take my part: my eyes will be gazing on no stranger. My heart sinks within me.
28 When you say, 'How can we confound him? What pretext can we discover against him?'
29 You yourselves had best beware the sword, since the wrath bursts into flame at wicked deeds and then you will learn that there is indeed a judgement!

Zophar. (Jb.20.1-29)

201 Zophar of Naamath spoke next. He said:
2 My thoughts urge me to reply to this, and hence the impatience that grips me.
3 I have put up with prating that outrages me and now my mind inspires me with an answer.
4 Do you not know, that since time began and human beings were set on the earth,
5 the triumph of the wicked has always been brief, and the sinner's gladness has never lasted long?
6 Towering to the sky he may have been, his head touching the clouds;
7 but he vanishes, like a phantom, once for all, while those who used to see him, ask, 'Where is he?'
8 Like a dream that leaves no trace he takes his flight, like a vision in the night he flies away.
9 The eye accustomed to see him sees him no more, his home will never set eyes on him again.
10 His sons will have to reimburse the poor and his children pay back his riches.
11 His bones used to be full of youthful vigour: and there it lies, in the dust with him, now!
12 Evil was sweet to his mouth, he would shelter it under his tongue;
13 cultivating it carefully, he would let it linger on his palate.
14 Such food goes bad in his belly, working inside him like the poison of a viper.
15 Now he has to vomit up the wealth that he has swallowed, God makes him disgorge it.
16 He used to suck vipers' venom, and the tongue of the adder kills him.
17 No more will he know the streams of oil or the torrents of honey and cream.
18 When he gives back his winnings, his cheerfulness will fade, and the satisfied air he had when business was thriving.
19 Since he once destroyed the huts of the poor, plundering houses instead of building them up,
20 since his avarice could never be satisfied, now all his hoarding will not save him;
21 since nothing could escape his greed, his prosperity will not last.
22 When he has everything he needs, want will seize him, and misery will light on him with all its force.
23 On him God looses all his burning wrath, hurling against his flesh a hail of arrows.
24 If he escapes the weapons of iron, the bow of bronze will transfix him.
25 Out of his back sticks an arrow, from his gall a shining point.
The terrors advance on him, 26 all the hidden darknesses are waiting to carry him off.
A fire unlit by human hand devours him, and consumes what is left in his tent.
27 The heavens lay bare his iniquity, and the earth rises up against him.
28 The income of his house pours away, like the torrents, on the day of retribution.
29 Such is the fate God reserves for the wicked, the inheritance he assigns to the accursed!

Job. (Jb.21.1-34)

211 Job spoke next. He said:
2 Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you allow me.
3 Permit me to speak in my turn; you may jeer when I have spoken.
4 Is my complaint just about a fellow-mortal? I have good grounds to be perturbed!
5 Give your attention to me; you will be dumbfounded and will place your hand over your mouth.
6 I myself am appalled at the very thought, and my flesh creeps.
7 Why do the wicked still live on, their power increasing with their age?
8 They see their posterity assured, and their offspring secure before their eyes.
9 The peace of their houses has nothing to fear, the rod that God wields is not for them.
10 No mishap with their bull at breeding-time, nor miscarriage with their cow at calving.
11 They let their infants frisk like lambs, their children dance like deer.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13 They end their lives in happiness and go down in peace to Sheol. 14 Yet these are the ones who say to God, 'Go away! We do not want to learn your ways.
15 What is the point of our serving Shaddai? What should we gain from praying to him?'
16 Surely they have won their own prosperity, since God is kept so far from their plans? 17 Do we often see the light of the wicked put out, or disaster overtake him, or the retribution of God destroy his possessions,
18 or the wind blow him away like a straw, or a whirlwind carry him off like chaff?
19 So God is storing up punishment for his children? But the wicked himself should be punished, and should know it!
20 He himself should witness his own ruin, and himself drink the anger of Shaddai.
21 Once he is gone, what joy can he gain from his family, once the number of his months has been cut off?
22 But who can teach wisdom to God, to him who is judge of those on high?
23 And again: one person dies in the fullness of strength, in all possible happiness and ease,
24 thighs padded with fat and the marrow in the bones good and moist.
25 Another dies in bitterness of heart, never having tasted happiness.
26 They lie together down in the dust and the worms soon cover them both. 27 Oh, I know what is in your minds, what you so spitefully think about me!
28 'What has become of the great lord's house,' you say, 'where is the tent where the wicked used to live?'
29 Have you never questioned people who travel, do you not understand the testimony they give:
30 on the day of disaster, the wicked is spared, on the day of retribution, he is kept safe?
31 And who is there then to reproach him for his deeds and to pay him back for the things he has done?
32 He is carried away to the cemetery, and a watch is kept at his tomb.
33 The clods of the ravine lie easy on him, and the whole population walk behind.
34 So what sense is there in your empty consolation? your answers are the left-overs of infidelity!

THE THIRD DIALOGUE. Jb.22.1-27.23. Eliphaz. (Jb.22.1-30)

221 Eliphaz of Teman spoke next. He said:
2 Can a human being contribute anything to God, when even someone intelligent can benefit only himself?
3 Does Shaddai derive any benefit from your uprightness, or profit from your blameless conduct?
4 Do you think he is punishing you for your piety and bringing you to justice for that?
5 No, for your great wickedness, more likely, for your unlimited sins!
6 You have exacted unearned pledges from your brothers, stripped people naked of their clothes,
7 failed to give water to the thirsty and refused bread to the hungry;
8 handed the land over to a strong man, for some favoured person to move in,
9 sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the arms of orphans.
10 No wonder, then, if snares are all around you, and sudden terrors make you afraid;
11 if light has turned to darkness, so that you cannot see, and you have been submerged in the flood. 12 Does not God live high in the heavens, does he not see the zenith of the stars?
13 And because he is up there, you have said, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the dark cloud?
14 The clouds, to him, are an impenetrable veil, as he goes his way on the rim of the heavens.'
15 And will you still follow the ancient trail trodden by the wicked,
16 those who were borne off before their time, whose foundations were swamped by a flood,
17 for having said to God, 'Go away! What can Shaddai do to us?'
18 Yet he himself had filled their houses with good things, although excluded from the plans of the wicked!
19 At such a spectacle, the upright rejoice, and the innocent deride them:
20 'See how our enemies have been destroyed! See how their wealth has perished in the flames!' 21 Well then! Make peace with him, be reconciled, and all your happiness will be restored to you.
22 Welcome the teaching from his lips, and keep his words close to your heart.
23 If you return, humbled, to Shaddai and drive wickedness far from your tent,
24 if you lay your gold down on the dust, Ophir down among the pebbles of the torrent,
25 Shaddai will be bars of gold to you and silver piled in heaps.
26 Then Shaddai will be all your delight, and you will lift your face to God.
27 You will pray, and he will hear; and you will be able to fulfil your vows.
28 Whatever you undertake will go well, and light will shine on your path;
29 for he casts down the pride of the arrogant, but he saves those of downcast eyes.
30 He rescues anyone who is innocent; have your hands clean, and you will be saved.

Job. (Jb.23.1-24.17)

231 Job spoke next. He said:
2 My lament is still rebellious; despite my groans, his hand is just as heavy.
3 Will no one help me to know how to travel to his dwelling?
4 I should set out my case to him, advancing any number of grievances.
5 Then I could learn his defence, every word of it, taking note of everything he said to me.
6 Would he put all his strength into this debate with me? No, he would only have to give his attention to me,
7 to recognise his opponent as upright and so I should win my case for ever. 8 If I go to the east, he is not there; or to the west, I still cannot see him.
9 If I seek him in the north, he is not to be found, invisible as ever, if I turn to the south.
10 And yet he knows every step I take! Let him test me in the crucible: I shall come out pure gold.
11 My footsteps have followed close in his, I have walked in his way without swerving;
12 I have not neglected the commandment of his lips, in my heart I have cherished the words of his mouth.
13 But once he has made up his mind, who can change it? Whatever he plans, that he carries out.
14 No doubt, then, but he will carry out my sentence, like so many other decrees that he has made.
15 That is why I am full of fear before him, and the more I think, the greater grows my dread of him.
16 God has undermined my courage, Shaddai has filled me with fear.
17 The darkness having failed to destroy me, I am plunged back into obscurity by him!
24[katapi NOTE: the NJB re-orders chapters 24 to 27 as follows: Ch.24. vss.1-6, 10-11, 1-9, 1-14, 16a, 15, 16b, 17, 25; Ch.25. vss.1-6; Ch.26. vss.5-14, 1-4; Ch.27: vss.1-23; Ch.24: vss.18-24.] 241 Why does Shaddai not make known the times he has fixed; why do his faithful never see his Days?
2 The wicked move boundary-marks away, they carry off flock and shepherd.
3 They drive away the orphan's donkey, as security, they seize the widow's ox.
4 The needy have to keep out of the way, poor country people have to keep out of sight.
5 Like wild desert donkeys, they go out to work, searching from dawn for food, and at evening for something on which to feed their children.
6 They go harvesting in the field of some scoundrel, they go pilfering in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 They spend the night naked, lacking clothes, with no covering against the cold.
8 Mountain rainstorms cut them through, unsheltered, they hug the rocks.
9 The orphan child is torn from the breast, the child of the poor is exacted as security.
10 They go about naked, lacking clothes, and starving while they carry the sheaves.
11 Two little walls, their shelter at high noon; parched with thirst, they have to tread the winepress.
12 From the towns come the groans of the dying and the gasp of the wounded crying for help. Yet God remains deaf to prayer! 13 In contrast, there are those who reject the light: who know nothing of its ways and who do not frequent its paths.
14 When all is dark the murderer leaves his bed to kill the poor and needy. During the night the thief goes on the prowl,
15 [v.15] The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, 'No one will see me,' he mutters as he masks his face.
[v.16b] In the daytime they keep out of sight, these people who do not want to know the light.
16 [v.16a] breaking into houses while the darkness lasts.
17 For all of them, morning is a time of shadow dark as death, since that is when they know what fear is.

[Zophar] (Jb.24.18-25)

18 He is no more than a straw floating on the water, his estate is accursed throughout the land, nobody goes near his vineyard.
19 As drought and heat make snow disappear, so does Sheol anyone who has sinned.
20 The womb that shaped him forgets him and his name is recalled no longer.
Thus wickedness is blasted as a tree is struck.
21 He used to ill-treat the childless woman and show no kindness to the widow.
22 But he who lays mighty hold on tyrants rises us to take away a life that seemed secure.
23 He let him build his hopes on false security, but kept his eyes on every step he took.
24 He had his time of glory, now he vanishes, wilting like the saltwort once it is picked, and withering like an ear of corn.
25 Is this not so? Who can prove me a liar or show that my words have no substance?

Bildad. (Jb.25.1-6)

251 Bildad of Shuah spoke next. He said:
2 What sovereignty, what awe, is his who creates peace on his heights!
3 Who can count his armies? Against whom does his lightning not surge forth?
4 Could anyone think God regards him as virtuous, the child of woman as pure!
5 Why, the very moon lacks lustre, the very stars seem impure to him!
The Shadows tremble underneath the earth, the waters and their denizens are afraid.
6 How much less a human, this maggot, the child of man, this worm! Before his eyes, Sheol is bare, Perdition itself is uncovered.
7 He it was who spread the North above the void and poised the earth on nothingness.
8 He fastens up the waters in his clouds, without the clouds giving way under their weight.
9 He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his cloud across it.
10 He has traced a ring on the surface of the waters, at the boundary between light and dark.
11 The pillars of the heavens tremble, awe-struck at his threats.
12 By his power, he has whipped up the Sea, by his skill, he has crushed Rahab.
13 His breath has made the heavens luminous, his hand transfixed the Fleeing Serpent.
14 This is only a fraction of what he has done and all we catch of it is the feeblest echo. But who can conceive the thunder of his power?

Job. (Jb.26.1-4)

261 Job spoke next. He said:
2 To one so weak, what a help you are, for the arm that is powerless, what a rescuer!
3 What excellent advice you give the unlearned, you are never at a loss for a helpful suggestion!
4 For whom are these words of yours intended and whence comes that wit you are now displaying?

Job. (Jb.27.1-12)

271 And Job continued his solemn discourse. He said:
2 I swear by the living God who denies me justice, by Shaddai who has filled me with bitterness,
3 that as long as a shred of life is left in me, and the breath of God breathes in my nostrils,
4 my lips will never speak evil nor my tongue utter any lie.
5 Far from admitting you to be in the right, I shall maintain my integrity to my dying day.
6 I take my stand on my uprightness, I shall not stir: in my heart I need not be ashamed of my days.
7 Let my enemy meet the fate of the wicked, my adversary, the lot of the evil-doer!
8 For what hope does the godless have when he prays and raises his soul to God?
9 Is God likely to hear his cries when disaster descends on him?
10 Did he make Shaddai all his delight, calling on him at every turn?
11 But I am showing you the way that God works, making no secret of Shaddai's designs.
12 And if you had all understood them for yourselves, you would not have wasted your breath in empty words.

[Zophar] (Jb.27.13-23)

13 This is the fate that God assigns to the wicked, the inheritance that the violent receive from Shaddai.
14 Though he have many children, it is but for the sword; his descendants will never have enough to eat.
15 Plague will bury those he leaves behind him, and their widows will have no chance to mourn them.
16 Though he amass silver like dust and gather fine clothes like clay,
17 let him gather!-some good man will wear them, while his silver is shared among the upright.
18 All he has built himself is a spider's web, made himself a watchman's shack.
19 He goes to bed rich, but never again: he wakes to find it has all gone. As drought and heat make snow disappear, so does Sheol anyone who has sinned.
20 Terror assails him in broad daylight, and at night a whirlwind sweeps him off. The womb that shaped him forgets him and his name is recalled no longer. Thus wickedness is blasted as a tree is struck.
21 An east wind picks him up and drags him away, snatching him up from his homestead. He used to ill-treat the childless woman and show no kindness to the widow.
22 Pitilessly he is turned into a target, and forced to flee from the hands that menace him. But he who lays mighty hold on tyrants rises up to take away a life that seemed secure.
23 His downfall is greeted with applause, he is hissed wherever he goes.
24 He had his time of glory, now he vanishes, wilting like the saltwort once it is picked, and withering like an ear of corn.

In praise of Wisdom. (Jb.28.1-28)

281 Silver has its mines, and gold a place for refining.
2 Iron is extracted from the earth, the smelted rocks yield copper.
3 Man makes an end of darkness, to the utmost limit he digs the black rock in shadow dark as death.
4 Foreigners bore into ravines in unfrequented places, swinging suspended far from human beings.
5 That earth from which bread comes is ravaged underground by fire.
6 There, the rocks have veins of sapphire and their dust contains gold.
7 That is a path unknown to birds of prey, unseen by the eye of any vulture;
8 a path not trodden by the lordly beasts, where no lion ever walked.
9 Man attacks the flint, upturning mountains by their roots.
10 He cuts canals through the rock, on the watch for anything precious.
11 He explores the sources of rivers, bringing hidden things to light.
12 But where does Wisdom come from? Where is Intelligence to be found? 13 No human being knows the way to her, she is not to be found on earth where they live.
14 'She is not in me,' says the Abyss; 'Nor here,' replies the Sea.
15 She cannot be bought with solid gold, nor paid for with any weight of silver,
16 nor valued against gold of Ophir, precious agate or sapphire.
17 Neither gold nor glass compares with her, for her, a vase of fine gold would be no exchange,
18 let alone coral or crystal: better go fishing for Wisdom than for pearls!
19 Topaz from Cush is worthless in comparison, and gold, even refined, is valueless.
20 But where does Wisdom come from? Where is Intelligence to be found? 21 She cannot be seen by any living creature, she is hidden from the birds of the sky.
22 Perdition and Death both say, 'We have heard only rumours of her.'
23 God alone understands her path and knows where she is to be found.
24 (For he sees to the remotest parts of the earth, and observes all that lies under heaven.)
25 When he willed to give weight to the wind and measured out the waters with a gauge,
26 when he imposed a law on the rain and mapped a route for thunderclaps to follow,
27 then he saw and evaluated her, looked her through and through, assessing her.
28 Then he said to human beings, 'Wisdom?—that is fear of the Lord; Intelligence?—avoidance of evil.'

Job's final statement of his case. (Jb.29.1-31.40)

291 [katapi NOTE: the NJB printed order of JOB chapter 29 is: vss.1-10, 21-25, 11-20.]

[1] And Job continued his solemn discourse. He said:

2 Will no one bring back to me the months that have gone, and the days when God was my guardian,
3 when his lamp shone over my head, and his light was my guide in the darkness?
4 Shall I ever see my days of harvest again when God protected my tent;
5 when Shaddai still dwelt with me, and my children were around me;
6 when my feet were bathed in milk, and streams of oil poured from the rocks?
7 When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square,
8 as soon as I appeared, the young men stepped aside, and the old men rose to their feet.
9 Men of note broke off their speeches, and put their hands over their mouths;
10 the voices of rulers were silenced, and their tongues stayed still in their mouths.
11 On hearing me, people congratulated me, on seeing me, people deferred to me,
12 because I freed the poor in distress and the orphan who had no helper.
13 The dying man's blessing rested on me and I gave the widow's heart cause to rejoice.
14 Uprightness I wore as a garment, fair judgement was my cloak and my turban.
15 I was eyes for the blind, and feet for the lame.
16 Who but me was father of the poor? The stranger's case had a hearing from me.
17 I used to break the fangs of the wicked, and snatch their prey from their jaws. 18 And I used to say, 'I shall die in honour, after days as numerous as the sand.
19 My roots can reach the water, the dews of night settle on my leaves.
20 My glory will be for ever new and the bow in my hand for ever strong.'
21 They waited anxiously to hear me, and listened in silence to what I had to say.
22 When I had finished, no one contradicted, my words dropping on them, one by one.
23 They waited for me as though for rain, open-mouthed as though for a late shower.
24 If I smiled at them, it was too good to be true, they watched my face for the least sign of favour.
25 As their chief, I told them which course to take, like a king living among his troops, and I led them wherever I chose.
301 And now I am the laughing-stock of people who are younger than I am
and whose parents I would have disdained to put with the dogs guarding my flock.
2 And what use to me was the strength of their hands?—enfeebled as they were,
3 worn out by want and hunger, for they used to gnaw the roots of the thirsty ground—that place of gloom, ruin and desolation—
4 they used to pick saltwort among the scrub, making their meals off roots of broom.
5 Outlawed from human company, which raised hue and cry against them, as against thieves,
6 they made their homes in the sides of ravines, in holes in the earth or in clefts of rock.
7 You could hear them braying from the bushes as they huddled together in the thistles.
8 Children of scoundrels, worse, nameless people, the very outcasts of society!
9 And these are the ones who now make up songs about me and use me as a byword!
10 Filled with disgust, they keep their distance, on seeing me, they spit without restraint.
11 And since God has loosened my bow-string and afflicted me, they too throw off the bridle in my presence.
12 Their brats surge forward on my right, to see when I am having a little peace, and advance on me with threatening strides.
13 They cut off all means of escape seizing the chance to destroy me, and no one stops them.
14 They move in, as if through a wide breach, and I go tumbling beneath the rubble.
15 Terror rounds on me, my confidence is dispersed as though by the wind, my hope of safety vanishes like a cloud. 16 And now the life in me trickles away, days of grief have gripped me.
17 At night-time sickness saps my bones I am gnawed by wounds that never sleep.
18 Violently, he has caught me by my clothes, has gripped me by the collar of my coat.
19 He has thrown me into the mud; I am no more than dust and ashes. 20 I cry to you, and you give me no answer; I stand before you, but you take no notice.
21 You have grown cruel to me, and your strong hand torments me unmercifully.
22 You carry me away astride the wind and blow me to pieces in a tempest.
23 Yes, I know that you are taking me towards death, to the common meeting-place of all the living. 24 Yet have I ever laid a hand on the poor when they cried out for justice in calamity?
25 Have I not wept for those whose life is hard, felt pity for the penniless?
26 I hoped for happiness, but sorrow came; I looked for light, but there was darkness.
27 My stomach seethes, is never still, days of suffering have struck me.
28 Sombre I go, yet no one comforts me, and if I rise in the council, I rise to weep.
29 I have become brother to the jackal and companion to the ostrich.
30 My skin has turned black on me, my bones are burnt with fever.
31 My harp is tuned to dirges, my pipe to the voice of mourners.
311 [katapi NOTE: The NJB printed order of chapter 31 is as follows: vss.1-15, 38-40a, 16-37, 40b.]
[1] I had made an agreement with my eyes not to linger on any virgin.
2 Now what portion does God allot from above, what fate does Shaddai apportion from his heaven—
3 if not the disasters appropriate to the wicked and the calamities fit for evil-doers?
4 But surely he sees how I behave, does he not count all my steps?
5 Have I been a fellow-traveller with falsehood, or hastened my steps towards deceit?
6 Let him weigh me on accurate scales: then he, God, will recognise my integrity!
7 If my feet have wandered from the rightful path, or if my eyes have led my heart astray, or if my hands are smirched with any stain,
8 let someone else eat what I have sown and let my young shoots all be rooted out.
9 If my heart has been seduced by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbour's door,
10 let my wife go and grind for someone else, let others have intercourse with her!
11 For I would have committed a sin of lust, a crime punishable by the law,
12 a fire, indeed, burning all to Perdition, which would have devoured my whole revenue.
13 If I have ever infringed the rights of slave or slave-girl in legal actions against me-
14 what shall I do, when God stands up? What shall I say, when he holds his assize?
15 Did he not create them in the womb like me, the same God forming us in the womb? 16 Have I been insensible to the needs of the poor, or let a widow's eyes grow dim?
17 Have I eaten my bit of bread on my own without sharing it with the orphan?
18 I, whom God has fostered father-like from childhood, and guided since I left my mother's womb,
19 have I ever seen a wretch in need of clothing, or the poor with nothing to wear,
20 without his having cause to bless me from his heart, as he felt the warmth of the fleece from my lambs?
21 Have I raised my hand against an orphan, presuming on my credit at the gate?
22 If so, let my shoulder fall from its socket, let my arm break off at the elbow!
23 For the terror of God would fall on me and I could not then stand my ground before his majesty. 24 Have I put my faith in gold, saying to fine gold, 'Ah, my security'?
25 Have I ever gloated over my great wealth, or the riches that my hands have won?
26 Or has the sight of the sun in its glory, or the glow of the moon as it walked the sky,
27 secretly stolen my heart, so that I blew them a kiss?
28 That too would be a criminal offence, to have denied the supreme God.
29 Have I rejoiced at my enemy's misfortune, or exulted when disaster overtook him?—
30 I, who would not allow my tongue to sin or to lay his life under a curse.
31 The people of my tent, did they not say, 'Will anyone name a person whom he has not filled with meat?'
32 No stranger ever had to sleep outside, my door was always open to the traveller.
33 Have I ever concealed my transgression from others or kept my fault a secret in my breast?
34 Have I ever stood in fear of common gossip, or dreaded any family's contempt, and so kept quiet, not venturing out of doors?
35 Will no one give me a hearing? I have said my last word; now let Shaddai reply! When my adversary has drafted his writ against me
36 I shall wear it on my shoulder, and bind it round my head like a royal turban.
37 I shall give him an account of my every step and go as boldly as a prince to meet him.
End of the words of Job.
38 If my land cries for vengeance against me and its furrows weep in concert,
39 if I have eaten its produce without paying, and caused the death of its owners,
40 let brambles grow instead of wheat, rank weeds instead of barley!

Elihu's speech. (Jb.32.1-37.24)

321 These three men stopped arguing with Job, because he was convinced of his uprightness. 2 But Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the clan of Ram, became very angry. He fumed with rage against Job for thinking that he was right and God was wrong; 3 and he was equally angry with the three friends for giving up the argument and thus putting God in the wrong. 4 While they and Job were talking, Elihu had waited, because they were older than he was; 5 but when he saw that the three men had not another word to say in answer, his anger burst out. 6 And Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite began to speak. He said:

I am still young, and you are old,
so I was shy and hesitant to tell you what I know.
7 I thought, 'Age ought to speak, advancing years will convey wisdom.'
8 There is, you see, a spirit residing in humanity, the breath of God conferring intelligence.
9 Great age does not give wisdom, nor seniority fair judgement.
10 And so I ask you for a hearing; now it is my turn to tell what I know.
11 Up to now, I was hanging on your words, I paid attention to your arguments as each of you chose his words.
12 I paid very close attention; and I see that none of you has confounded Job, not one of you has refuted what he says.
13 So do not say, 'We have found wisdom; our teaching is divine and not human.'
14 I am not going to follow the same line of argument; my reply to Job will be couched in different terms. 15 They are nonplussed for an answer, words have failed them.
16 I have been waiting. Since they do not speak, since they have given up the argument,
17 now I shall have my say, my turn has come to say what I know.
18 For I am full of words and forced to speak by a spirit within me;
19 within me, it feels like new wine seeking a vent, bursting out of new wine-skins.
20 To gain relief, I must speak, I must open my lips and reply.
21 I shall not take anyone's side, I shall not flatter anyone.
22 I do not know how to flatter—or my Creator would make short work of me.

331 [katapi NOTE: the NJB printed order of ch.33 is as follows: 1-3, 5-6, 4, 7-33.]

So, Job, please listen to my words and attend to all I have to say.
2 Now as I open my mouth, and my tongue shapes words against my palate,
3 I shall utter words of wisdom from the heart, my lips will speak in all sincerity.
4 God's was the spirit that made me, Shaddai's the breath that gave me life.
5 Refute me, if you can. Prepare yourself, take up your position!
6 Look, I am your equal, not some god, like you I was moulded out of clay.
7 No fear of me, therefore, need affright you, my hand will not lie heavy over you.
8 How could you say in my hearing—for the sound of your words did not escape me—
9 'I am clean, and sinless, I am pure, without fault.
10 But he keeps inventing excuses against me and regards me as his enemy.
11 He puts me in the stocks, he watches my every path'?
12 In saying so, I tell you, you are wrong: for God is greater than any human being.
13 Why then quarrel with him for not replying to you, word for word?
14 God speaks first in one way, and then in another, although we do not realise it.
15 In dreams and in night-visions, when slumber has settled on humanity and people are asleep in bed,
16 he speaks in someone's ear, frightens him with apparitions
17 to turn him from what he is doing and to put an end to his pride.
18 And thus he preserves his soul from the abyss, his life from passing down the Canal.
19 Or again, he corrects by the sufferings of the sick-bed, when someone's bones tremble continuously
20 and the thought of food revolts him, however tasty it is,
21 and his flesh rots away while you watch it and the bones beneath begin to show,
22 and his soul is drawing nearer to the abyss and his life to the dwelling of the dead.
23 Then, if there is an Angel near him, a Mediator, one in a thousand, to remind him where his duty lies,
24 to take pity on him and to say, 'Spare him from going down to the abyss: I have found the ransom for his life,'
25 his flesh will recover its childhood freshness, he will return to the days of his youth.
26 He will pray to God who has restored him to favour, and will come into his presence with joy.
He will tell others how he has received saving justice 27 and sing this hymn before his companions,
'I sinned and left the path of right, but God has not punished me as my sin deserved.
28 He has spared my soul from going down to the abyss and is making my life see the light.'
29 All this is what God keeps doing again and yet again for human beings,
30 to snatch souls back from the abyss and to make the light of the living still shine. 31 Pay attention, Job, listen to me: keep quiet, I have more to say.
32 If you have anything to say, refute me, speak out, for I would gladly accept that you are upright.
33 If not, then listen to me: keep quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.

341 Elihu continued his speech. He said:
2 And now, you sages, listen to what I say, lend me your ears, you learned men.
3 The ear distinguishes the value of what is said, just as the palate can tell one food from another.
4 Let us consider together God's ruling and decide what we all mean by good.
5 Job has been saying, 'I am upright and God denies me fair judgement.
6 My judge is treating me cruelly, my wound is incurable, for no fault of mine.'
7 Can anyone else exist like Job, who laps up mockery like water,
8 who consorts with evil-doers and marches in step with the wicked?
9 Did he not say, 'No one derives any benefit from enjoying the society of God'? 10 Listen to me then, like intelligent people. Far be evil from God or injustice from Shaddai!
11 For he pays people back for what they do, treating each as his own conduct deserves.
12 Be sure of it: God never does wrong, Shaddai does not pervert what is just.
13 Did someone else entrust the world to his care was he given charge of the universe by someone else?
14 If he were to recall his spirit, to concentrate his breath back in himself,
15 all flesh would instantly perish and all people would return to dust.
16 If you have any intelligence, listen to this, lend your ear to the sound of my words.
17 Could an enemy of fair judgement ever govern? Would you dare condemn the Upright One, the Almighty,
18 who says to a king, 'You are a scoundrel!' and to nobles, 'You are wicked!',
19 who is unimpressed by princes and makes no distinction between rich and poor, since all alike have been made by him?
20 They die suddenly, at dead of night, they perish—these great ones—and disappear: it costs him no effort to remove a tyrant.
21 For his eyes keep watch on human ways, and he observes every step.
22 No darkness, no shadow dark as death where wrong-doers can hide!
23 He serves no writ on anyone, no summons to appear before God's court:
24 he breaks the powerful without enquiry and sets up others in their places.
25 He knows the sort of things they do! He overthrows them at night, to be trampled on.
26 He beats them like criminals chained up for all to see,
27 since they have turned their backs on him, having understood so little of his ways
28 as to make the cries of the weak rise to him and let him hear the appeal of the afflicted. 29 But if he is still silent and no one can move him, if he veils his face, so that no one can see him,
he is taking pity on nations and individuals, 30 is setting some wrong-doer free from the meshes of affliction.
31 When such a one says to God, 'I was misled, I shall not do wrong any more;
32 although I have sinned, instruct me; although I did wrong, I will not do it again,'
33 in your opinion, should he punish such a one—you who have rejected his decisions?
This is for you to decide—not for me!—so kindly enlighten us!
34 Ordinary sensible people, however, will say to me, and so will any sage who has been listening to me,
35 'Job's words are spoken without any knowledge, what he says shows no intelligence.
36 Kindly examine him thoroughly, since his answers imply that he is a criminal.
37 For to his sin he now adds rebellion, bringing law to an end among us and heaping abuse on God.'
351 Elihu continued his speech. He said:
2 Do you think you can prove yourself upright and establish your uprightness before God
3 by daring to say to him, 'What does it matter to you, or how does it benefit me, whether I have sinned or not?'
4 Very well, I shall tell you and your friends as well. 5 Take a look at the skies and see, observe how high the clouds are above you.
6 If you sin, how can you affect him? If you heap up crimes, what effect has it on him?
7 If you are upright, what do you give him, what benefit does he receive at your hands?
8 Your wickedness affects only your fellows, your uprightness, other human beings.
9 They too groan under the weight of oppression, they cry for help under the tyranny of the mighty,
10 but none of them thinks of saying, 'Where is God, my Maker, who makes glad songs ring out at night,
11 who has made us more intelligent than wild animals wiser than birds in the sky?'
12 Cry they may, but get no answer, to be spared from the arrogance of the wicked.
13 Of course God does not listen to trivialities, Shaddai pays no attention to them.
14 And how much less when you say, 'I cannot see him, my case is open and I am waiting for him.'
15 Or, 'His anger never punishes, he does not seem aware of human rebellion.'
16 Hence, when Job speaks, he talks nonsense, ignorantly babbling on and on.
361 Elihu went on speaking. He said:
2 Be patient a little longer while I explain, for I have more to say on God's behalf.
3 I shall range far afield for my arguments to prove my Maker just.
4 I guarantee, nothing I shall say will be untrue: you have a man of sound learning here.
5 God does not reject anyone whose heart is pure 6 or let the sinner live on in all his power.
He does accord fair judgement to the afflicted; 7 he does uphold what the upright deserve.
When he raises kings to thrones, if they grow proud of their unending rule,
8 then he fetters them with chains, they are caught in the bonds of affliction.
9 He shows them the import of their deeds, of the sins of pride they have committed.
10 In their ears he sounds a warning, ordering them to turn back from doing wrong.
11 If they take notice and obey him, the rest of their days are prosperous and the years pass pleasantly.
12 If not, they go down the Canal and perish in their stupidity.
13 The stubborn, who cherish their anger and do not cry for help when he chains them,
14 die in the bloom of youth or live among the male prostitutes of the temple.
15 But God saves the afflicted by his affliction, warning him in his misery.
16 You, too, he would like to snatch from torment.
While you were enjoying boundless abundance, with rich food piled high on your table,
17 you did not bring the wicked to trial and did not give fair judgement to the orphan.
18 Beware of being led astray by abundance, of being corrupted by expensive presents.
19 Take the powerful to law, not merely the penniless, those whose arm is strong, not merely the weak.
20 Do not crush people you do not know to install your relations in their place.
21 Avoid any tendency to wrong-doing, for this is why affliction is testing you now. 22 See, God is sublime in his strength and who can teach lessons as he does?
23 Who has even told him which course to take, or dared to say to him, 'You have done wrong'?
24 Consider, rather, how you may praise his work, a theme that many have sung.
25 This is something that everyone can see, gazing, as we do, from afar.
26 Yes, the greatness of God exceeds our knowledge, the number of his years is past counting.
27 It is he who makes the raindrops small and pulverises the rain into mist.
28 And the clouds then pour this out, sending it streaming down on the human race.
29 And who can fathom how he spreads the clouds, or why such crashes thunder from his tent?
30 He spreads a mist before him and covers the tops of the mountains.
31 By these means, he sustains the peoples, giving them plenty to eat.
32 He gathers up the lightning in his hands, assigning it the mark where to strike.
33 His crashing gives warning of its coming, anger flashes out against iniquity.
371 At this, my very heart quakes and leaps out of its place.
2 Listen, oh listen, to the blast of his voice and the sound that issues from his mouth.
3 His lightning is hurled across the heaven, it strikes to the extremities of earth.
4 After it comes a roaring sound, God thunders with majestic voice.
He does not check his thunderbolts until his voice resounds no more.
5 Yes, certainly God shows us marvels and does great deeds that we cannot understand.
6 When he says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth!' to the showers, 'Now rain hard!'
7 he brings all human activity to a standstill, for everyone to acknowledge his work.
8 The animals go back to their dens and take shelter in their lairs.
9 The storm wind comes from the Mansion of the South, and the north winds usher in the cold.
10 At the breath of God, ice comes next, the surface of the waters hardens over.
11 He weighs the clouds down with moisture, and the storm clouds radiate his lightning.
12 He himself guides their wheeling motion presiding over their seasonal changes.
They carry out his orders to the letter all over this earthly world.
13 Whether to punish earth's peoples or as a work of faithful love, he despatches them.
14 Listen to this, Job, without flinching and reflect on the marvellous works of God.
15 Do you know how God controls them or how his clouds make the lightning flash?
16 Do you know how he balances the clouds—a miracle of consummate skill?
17 When your clothes are hot to your body and the earth lies still under the south wind,
18 can you, like him, stretch out the sky, tempered like a mirror of cast metal?
19 Teach me what we should say to him: but better discuss no further, since we are in the dark.
20 Does he take note when I speak? When human beings give orders, does he take it in?
21 There are times when the light vanishes, behind darkening clouds;
then comes the wind, sweeping them away. 22 and brightness spreads from the north.
God is clothed in fearful splendour: 23 he, Shaddai, is far beyond our reach.
Supreme in power, in equity, excelling in saving justice, yet no oppressor—
24 no wonder then that people fear him: everyone thoughtful holds him in awe!

The LORD answers Job. Jb.38.1-42.3. The LORD. (Jb.38.1-40.2)

381 Then from the heart of the tempest Yahweh gave Job his answer. He said:
2 Who is this, obscuring my intentions with his ignorant words?
3 Brace yourself like a fighter; I am going to ask the questions, and you are to inform me!
4 Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tell me, since you are so well-informed!
5 Who decided its dimensions, do you know? Or who stretched the measuring line across it?
6 What supports its pillars at their bases? Who laid its cornerstone
7 to the joyful concert of the morning stars and unanimous acclaim of the sons of God?
8 Who pent up the sea behind closed doors when it leapt tumultuous from the womb,
9 when I wrapped it in a robe of mist and made black clouds its swaddling bands;
10 when I cut out the place I had decreed for it and imposed gates and a bolt?
11 'Come so far,' I said, 'and no further; here your proud waves must break!'
12 Have you ever in your life given orders to the morning or sent the dawn to its post,
13 to grasp the earth by its edges and shake the wicked out of it?
14 She turns it as red as a clay seal, she tints it as though it were a dress,
15 stealing the light from evil-doers and breaking the arm raised to strike.
16 Have you been right down to the sources of the sea and walked about at the bottom of the Abyss?
17 Have you been shown the gates of Death, have you seen the janitors of the Shadow dark as death?
18 Have you an inkling of the extent of the earth? Tell me all about it if you have!
19 Which is the way to the home of the Light, and where does darkness live? -
20 You could then show them the way to their proper places, you could put them on the path home again!
21 If you do know, you must have been born when they were, you must be very old by now!
22 Have you visited the place where the snow is stored? Have you seen the stores of hail,
23 which I keep for times of distress, for days of battle and war?
24 From which direction does the lightning fork, where in the world does the east wind blow itself out?
25 Who bores a channel for the downpour or clears the way for the rolling thunder
26 so that rain may fall on lands where no one lives, and the deserts void of human dwelling,
27 to meet the needs of the lonely wastes and make grass sprout on the thirsty ground?
28 Has the rain a father? Who begets the dewdrops?
29 What womb brings forth the ice, who gives birth to the frost of heaven,
30 when the waters grow hard as stone and the surface of the deep congeals? 31 Can you fasten the harness of the Pleiades, or untie Orion's bands?
32 Can you guide the Crown season by season and show the Bear and its cubs which way to go?
33 Have you grasped the celestial laws? Could you make their writ run on the earth?
34 Can your voice carry as far as the clouds and make the pent-up waters do your bidding?
35 Will lightning flashes come at your command and answer, 'Here we are'?
36 Who endowed the ibis with wisdom and gave the cock his intelligence?
37 Whose skill details every cloud and tilts the water-skins of heaven
38 until the dust solidifies and the cracks in the ground close up? 39 Do you go hunting prey for the lioness; do you satisfy the hunger of young lions
40 where they crouch in their den, waiting eagerly in the bushes?
41 Who makes provision for the raven when his little ones cry out to God craning their necks in search of food?
391 Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you ever watched deer in labour?
2 Have you ever counted the months that they carry their young? Do you know when they give birth?
3 They crouch to drop their young, they get rid of their burdens
4 and the calves, having grown big and strong, go off into the desert and never come back to them.
5 Who has given the wild donkey his freedom, who has undone the harness of the brayer?
6 I have given him the wastelands as his home, the salt plain as his habitat.
7 He scorns the turmoil of the town, obeys no donkey-man's shouts.
8 The mountains are the pastures that he ranges in quest of anything green.
9 Is the wild ox willing to serve you or spend a night beside your manger?
10 If you tie a rope round his neck will he harrow the furrows for you?
11 Can you rely on his massive strength and leave him to do your heavy work?
12 Can you depend on him to come home and pile your grain on your threshing-floor? 13 Can the wing of the ostrich be compared with the plumage of stork or falcon?
14 She leaves her eggs on the ground with only earth to warm them;
15 forgetting that a foot may tread on them or a wild animal crush them.
16 Cruel to her chicks as if they were not hers, little she cares if her labour goes for nothing.
17 God, you see, has deprived her of wisdom and given her no share of intelligence.
18 Yet, if she bestirs herself to use her height, she can make fools of horse and rider too. 19 Are you the one who makes the horse so brave and covers his neck with flowing mane?
20 Do you make him leap like a grasshopper? His haughty neighing inspires terror.
21 Exultantly he paws the soil of the valley, and charges the battle-line in all his strength.
22 He laughs at fear; he is afraid of nothing, he recoils before no sword.
23 On his back the quiver rattles, the flashing spear and javelin.
24 Trembling with impatience, he eats up the miles; when the trumpet sounds, there is no holding him.
25 At each trumpet blast he neighs exultantly. He scents the battle from afar, the thundering of the commanders and the war cry. 26 Is it your wisdom that sets the hawk flying when he spreads his wings to travel south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command to make her eyrie in the heights?
28 She spends her nights among the crags with a needle of rock as her fortress,
29 from which she watches for prey, fixing it with her far-ranging eye.
30 Even her young drink blood; where anyone has been killed, she is there.

The LORD. (Jb.40:1)

401 Still speaking to Job, Yahweh said:
2 Is Yahweh's opponent going to give way? Has God's critic thought up an answer?

Job. (Jb.40.3-6)

3 Job replied to Yahweh:
4 My words have been frivolous: what can I reply? I had better lay my hand over my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, I shall not speak again; I have spoken twice, I have nothing more to say.

The LORD. (Jb.40.6-41.34)

6 Yahweh gave Job his answer from the heart of the tempest. He said:
7 Brace yourself like a fighter, I am going to ask the questions, and you are to inform me!
8 Do you really want to reverse my judgement, put me in the wrong and yourself in the right?
9 Has your arm the strength of God's, can your voice thunder as loud?
10 Come on, display your majesty and grandeur, robe yourself in splendour and glory.
11 Let the fury of your anger burst forth, humble the haughty at a glance!
12 At a glance, bring down all the proud, strike down the wicked where they stand.
13 Bury the lot of them in the ground, shut them, every one, in the Dungeon.
14 And I shall be the first to pay you homage, since your own right hand is strong enough to save you. 15 But look at Behemoth, my creature, just as you are! He feeds on greenstuff like the ox,
16 but what strength he has in his loins, what power in his stomach muscles!
17 His tail is as stiff as a cedar, the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.
18 His bones are bronze tubes, his frame like forged iron.
19 He is the first of the works of God. His Maker threatened him with the sword,
20 forbidding him the mountain regions and all the wild animals that play there.
21 Under the lotus he lies, he hides among the reeds in the swamps.
22 The leaves of the lotus give him shade, the willows by the stream shelter him.
23 If the river overflows, he does not worry: Jordan might come up to his mouth, but he would not care.
24 Who is going to catch him by the eyes or put poles through his nose? 25 Leviathan, too! Can you catch him with a fish-hook or hold his tongue down with a rope?
26 Can you put a cane through his nostrils or pierce his jaw with a hook?
27 Will he plead lengthily with you, addressing you in diffident tones?
28 Will he strike a bargain with you to become your slave for life?
29 Will you make a pet of him, like a bird, keep him on a lead to amuse your little girls?
30 Is he to be sold by the fishing guild and then retailed by merchants?
31 Riddle his hide with darts? Or his head with fishing spears?
32 You have only to lay a finger on him never to forget the struggle or risk it again!
411 Any hope you might have would be futile, the mere sight of him would overwhelm you.
2 When roused, he grows ferocious, who could ever stand up to him?
3 Who has ever attacked him with impunity? No one beneath all heaven!
4 Next I will talk of his limbs and describe his matchless strength-
5 who can undo the front of his tunic or pierce the double armour of his breastplate?
6 Who dare open the gates of his mouth? Terror reigns round his teeth!
7 His back is like rows of shields, sealed with a stone seal,
8 touching each other so close that no breath could pass between,
9 sticking to one another making an impervious whole.
10 His sneezes radiate light, his eyes are like the eyelashes of the dawn.
11 From his mouth come fiery torches, sparks of fire fly out of it.
12 His nostrils belch smoke like a cauldron boiling on the fire.
13 His breath could kindle coals, flame issues from his mouth.
14 His strength resides in his neck, violence leaps before him as he goes.
15 The strips of his flesh are jointed together, firmly set in and immovable.
16 His heart is as hard as rock unyielding as the lower millstone.
17 When he stands up, the waves take fright and the billows of the sea retreat.
18 Sword may strike but will not stick in him, no more will spear, javelin or lance.
19 Iron means no more to him than straw, nor bronze than rotten wood.
20 No arrow can make him flee, a sling-stone tickles him like hay.
21 Club seems to him like straw, he laughs at the whirring javelin.
22 He has sharp potsherds underneath, and moves across the slime like a harrow.
23 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron, he makes the sea fume like a scent burner.
24 Behind him he leaves a glittering wake—a white fleece seems to float on the deeps.
25 He has no equal on earth, being created without fear.
26 He looks the haughtiest in the eye; of all the lordly beasts he is king.

Job. (Jb.42.1-6)

421 This was the answer Job gave to Yahweh:
2 I know that you are all-powerful: what you conceive, you can perform.
3 I was the man who misrepresented your intentions with my ignorant words.
You have told me about great works that I cannot understand, about marvels which are beyond me, of which I know nothing.
4 (Listen, please, and let me speak: I am going to ask the questions, and you are to inform me.)
5 Before, I knew you only by hearsay but now, having seen you with my own eyes,
6 I retract what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.

Conclusion. (Jb.42.7-17)

7 When Yahweh had finished saying this to Job, he said to Eliphaz of Teman, 'I burn with anger against you and your two friends, for not having spoken correctly about me as my servant Job has done. 8 So now find seven bullocks and seven rams, and take them back with you to my servant Job and make a burnt offering for yourselves, while Job, my servant, offers prayers for you. I shall show him favour and shall not inflict my displeasure on you for not having spoken about me correctly, as my servant Job has done.' 9 Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shuah and Zophar of Naamath went away to do as Yahweh had ordered, and Yahweh listened to Job with favour. 10 And Yahweh restored Job's condition, while Job was interceding for his friends. More than that, Yahweh gave him double what he had before. 11 And all his brothers and all his sisters and all his friends of former times came to see him. Over dinner in his house, they showed their sympathy and comforted him for all the evils Yahweh had inflicted on him. Each of them gave him a silver coin, and each a gold ring. 12 Yahweh blessed Job's latter condition even more than his former one. He came to own fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand she-donkeys. 13 He had seven sons and three daughters; 14 his first daughter he called 'Turtledove', the second 'Cassia' and the third 'Mascara'. 15 Throughout the land there were no women as beautiful as the daughters of Job. And their father gave them inheritance rights like their brothers. 16 After this, Job lived for another one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and his children's children to the fourth generation. 17 Then, old and full of days, Job died.

Any problem with this page ? Please e-mail me. © this page layout: Paul Ingram 2016.